The Hippodrome

[WillowTheWhisp]

You beat me to it with the photos Jambutty. I was going to go down there but without transport I didn't fancy getting soaked today. Here's a bit of a map to help anyone who is confused about where we are discussing.

[Tony Ireland]

Alan is not wrong there are a few mistakes in your post in the third photo the vaux car in the street is parked in front of what was the coop grocers the peugot car to the right of it is parked in the shop. Then as you went further down the street to number seven what you would have thought would have been the front room had been the coop butchers which was number 9 with no access to7
the same happened next door at 11 so you can see how the houses where crammed into that block I hope someone out there has a picture of before as well as after,
but thanks for your pics
tony

[Wynonie Harris]

Thanks for the pics, Jambutty. As I haven't been down that part of town for over 20 years, my first reaction was "hasn't it changed?" So much so, that it's difficult to make comparisons with the old shot, although it's obviously a lot easier for Tony and Alan. Take your point that the Hippodrome was a fair way up the street, but I still maintain that there were no buildings between the bottom wall of the theatre and the bus depot. What I wouldn't give for a time machine!

[mikedeveron]

lots of good memories, but a young boy was killed there in the early sixties, falling off the roof, i think it was christmas 1963

[jambutty]

If what you state is right Tony then there wouldn’t be enough room for the Hippodrome in the remaining space.

The brick wall that you can see at the end of the car park extends across the bottom of Albion Street and that is where the Tenament started.

That Vauxhall car is mine.

The actual streets rarely change Wynonie Harris, just the buildings on them.

In picture 06 the bus looks like the back end of it is level with the end of the Hippodrome. But behind the bus there are 3 parked cars, with an appreciable gap between the back end of the bus and the first car or is it a van. Probably enough space for two more cars. If the Hippodrome backed onto the garage those cars would have nowhere to park.

There was definitely something between the end of the theatre and the front doors of the depot.

We need an old street map of the area. Maybe the library has one for 1950?

Any volunteers?

[WillowTheWhisp]

I had an old street map but I think it may have been chucked out because we have been trying to get rid of surplus stuff.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by mikedeveron

lots of good memories, but a young boy was killed there in the early sixties, falling off the roof, i think it was christmas 1963

yeh i knew him,he lived in a house on blackburn rd, across from the top of oxford st, was only 13 if memory serves well, would have been there that evening but was kept in with flu. am also near certain there was no houses below the hippodrome (on the same side) at that time.

[Wynonie Harris]

Originally Posted by jambutty

In picture 06 the bus looks like the back end of it is level with the end of the Hippodrome. But behind the bus there are 3 parked cars, with an appreciable gap between the back end of the bus and the first car or is it a van. Probably enough space for two more cars. If the Hippodrome backed onto the garage those cars would have nowhere to park.

There was definitely something between the end of the theatre and the front doors of the depot.

Yes, there was, but my contention is that "something" was not a building, but a walled yard. They used to park the buses out there sometimes. I didn't really want to have to admit this, but the reason I'm so so sure is that when I was a kid, I used to spend a lot of time hanging around there, as an avid bus spotter!

[jambutty]

Originally Posted by Wynonie Harris

Yes, there was, but my contention is that "something" was not a building, but a walled yard. They used to park the buses out there sometimes. I didn't really want to have to admit this, but the reason I'm so so sure is that when I was a kid, I used to spend a lot of time hanging around there, as an avid bus spotter!

Nothing wrong being a bus spotter Wynonie Harris. We all did it and trains and cars. I had notebooks full of car numbers.

As I stated, memory is a funny thing but I will accept that the ‘something’ was not a building. Although I still have a memory of a roof.

However I hired a helicopter and took a flight over Accrington this afternoon and took these photos above Ellison Street. Then I woke up and invoked Google to do it for me.

It gives a better perspective on things even if the Hippodrome is no longer there.

[cashman]

very interesting cheers jim, going off the first photo, i would say that the back passage that took you on to Ellisons Tenement is where the (path) seems to be directly below the car park. perhaps Tony can comment on this?

[WillowTheWhisp]

Was the Hippodrome on this plot?

[Wynonie Harris]

Thanks for the shots, Jambutty. Yes, Willow, I reckon the theatre was there, too. The yard was below it...perhaps there was some sort of shed there? This thread's really taken me back. I used to love it down there...all those blue-and-red Accy buses coming and going, then on the way home I'd nip into that great toy shop at the top of the street and pick up a couple of trashy American comics. Happy days!

[JEFF]

Hippo.jpg

Trying to attach a 1938 map, don't know if it has worked or not

[jambutty]

That area seems too small to hold the theatre WillowTheWhisp.

I reckon that Accy library (reference section) will have some information in the form of a street map (circa 1950) and maybe even photos. If they have then they may also allow people to photocopy them.

I remember that shop Wynonie Harris, on Blackburn road close to Kendall’s Hotel where a dishy bird called May Preston lived. Too old for me but I believe that my brother was in there for a while.

Is it my memory playing tricks again or was it known as “Dirty Dicks” because they also sold ‘racy’ mags?

[cashman]

Originally Posted by JEFF

Attachment 10063

Trying to attach a 1938 map, don't know if it has worked or not

its worked Jeff,nice one, it enlarges when you click on it.